It’s safe to say Alberto Gilardino may have suffered a restless night on Wednesday. The Fiorentina striker had half-a-dozen decent openings in the evening meeting with Bayern, any one of which could have put his side firmly in the driving seat. But none went in, and he was forced to watch as Tim Borowski struck late to earn the visitors a vital Cahmpions League point.
One figure who might well have featured in any Gilardino nightmare would be Michael Rensing. The 24-year-old reacted superbly to deny the striker’s two firmly headed efforts before half-time, and went on to smother, block or hold further Gilardino shots after the interval. The same fate befell the Italy hitman in the first meeting between the sides two weeks ago, and in two matches with his former club AC Milan against Rensing and his Bayern team-mates: on 3 April 2007 in a 2-2 quarter-final first leg encounter, and a 1-1 draw a year earlier in the last sixteen.
Topics of this article